


Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

by BrokeTheLights



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: But this is also not about that, Death, Discussion of Morality, F/M, I haven't really shipped anyone yet, I wrote this instead of writing my chaptered fic, In fact I found none, Magic, Major character death - Freeform, One-Shot, Spoilers for Season 3, all seasons spoilers, and I had inspiration, because I'm trying to power through it but it's hard, discussion of kingdoms and kings, etc - Freeform, graphic depiction of said death, like talking about how much it hurts, rayllum is so subtle it's practically not even there, so I wrote one myself, there wasn't enough fics from Ezran's point of view, trying to cling to life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokeTheLights/pseuds/BrokeTheLights
Summary: Ezran's been king for a couple months now, and he's exhausted. As he considers taking a nap right there on the throne, an unexpected visitor barges in, and things only go downhill from there.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Kudos: 24





	Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

It’d been three months now, and as peace slowly crept its way throughout the human and elven lands, Ezran sat back in the throne - no,  _ his _ throne - and sighed. Over the course of those three months, he’d had to get used to being the king quickly, and had done  _ so much work _ . Being as young as he was, he was utterly exhausted. He hadn’t known that adults, especially adults in his position, had to do all this stuff just to keep their people happy, and now with the changing times, Ezran himself had to work double time just to make sure people got quelled easily enough that there weren’t  _ too _ many attempts on his life.

Right at that moment, as the sun barely hit its midday point, and his brother Callum was out somewhere most likely with his former-travel-buddy-turned-girlfriend Rayla, Ezran was tempted to just fall asleep on the throne. He knew that it would be incredibly bad form for him, the king of Katolis, to start snoozing while he was technically on the job, but he also felt like his people would probably forgive him for it. While the gold ringlet of a crown he had forced himself to finally put on was heavy on his head and still somehow uncomfortably cold, the throne itself was surprisingly comfortable. He would probably be able to get even more comfortable if he tried, he thought to himself, and if he leaned in just the right manner against his hand with his elbow on the armrest, no one would be able to tell he’d slept when he woke back up again, assuming no one barged in on him. He thought about it, he wouldn’t lie about how tempting the idea really was, but in the end he pushed it out of his mind, and tried to sit up straighter in the seat that was much too big for his tiny, 10-year-old body.

As he shifted, a knock came from the throne room doors, and Ezran was suddenly reminded that he was far from alone in the room, as everyone else there startled. The two guards closest to the doors moved towards them, then looked back at their king for the signal to open them. Ezran, for his part, frowned, then looked over at the people to his left, who happened to be Corvus, a friend of his aunt General Amaya and thus a trusted person to him, and Opeli, who had been one of Ezran’s father’s most trusted advisors and who had proved herself to be loyal to him as well.

Opeli simply looked back at him and frowned as well, then turned back to the doors, but Corvus took a step towards him with concern.

“Is this visitor unexpected, your highness?” Corvus asked, and Ezran had to fight down his gut reaction to ask Corvus to simply call him by name.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, if that’s what you mean,” replied Ezran, and Corvus frowned, then nodded and took a step back.

A muttering fluttered through the throne room for a second before whoever was behind the door knocked again, this time much more aggressively. Opeli, for her part, frowned deeper, then shook her head before she, too, stepped towards Ezran.

“If the guest is uninvited,” she said to Ezran quietly, “and you don’t wish to see them, then you can by all means send them away, and ask that they make an appointment. In fact, if you want, you can send them away without allowing them counsel at all, for not making an appointment in the first place. Keep in mind, this could, like many things, be another attempt on your life.”

Ezran sighed again, then closed his eyes and nodded, slightly upset by Opeli’s words. He wished they were untrue, he wished he didn’t have to fear for his life all the time. In fact, he wished he wasn’t king at all, so that he could go and follow Callum and Rayla around, if only to do  _ something _ other than all the work he’d forced onto himself, which consistently reminded him of the danger and total collapse he was constantly on the edge of.

He considered for a second, allowing Opeli’s words to sink in as another bout of aggressive knocking came, then finally nodded towards the door guards, who nodded back and gripped the door handles. This might be the most exciting thing that had happened all day, he thought, and he might as well indulge whoever was on the other side of those doors. As they opened, Ezran placed what he hoped was a kind and welcoming smile on his face.

Or, well, he would have, had he not finally caught sight of who exactly was behind the door. As the room was once again consumed by muttering, this time much more frantic, a robed figure that Ezran knew all too well strode into the room, followed by a woman in similar garb and pitch black eyes, her dark magic being concentrated on a form being dragged behind her. As from beside him Opeli gasped and Corvus flew into a fighting stance, Ezran stood up on his throne and stared at the figure with wide eyes as he said the intruder’s name.

“Lord Viren!”

Viren strode to the centre of the room, then stopped, and as all the guard’s weapons turned towards him, at the ready for their king’s command to strike, Viren laughed. His skin was purple and scarred, the evidence of his dark, life-snatching magic written all over his head and body, and his eyes were as black as night, crisp and horrid, staring into Ezran’s soul like a murder of crows staring down at their newest meal. His laugh was loud, thunderous, evil, and it filled the room with shadows. As all the candles winked out, Viren’s presence only seemed to grow, far more intimidating and suffocating than what he had any right to be. The woman behind him, who Ezran knew was his daughter, Claudia, came forth from around him, and presented Ezran with the form that she’d had behind her. Ezran gasped as he saw Callum’s desperate face staring back up at him, terror in his eyes as he mouthed at his brother voicelessly to run, find somewhere safe, get away from Viren.

“Oh, miniscule king,” Viren’s voice cut through Ezran’s racing mind like a knife through butter, and Ezran’s eyes snapped back up to his, “it has been far too long. You, you little runt, have taken  _ everything _ from me, you stole from me my rightful place as king, and you stole from me my armies, armies I made so that humans might finally be the dominant ones on this tainted land. You, who sits in a throne I deserve, will know my wrath, my justice!”

“Don’t you dare try to lay a hand on the king!” cried Opeli from beside Ezran, as she found her bravery, though Ezran found he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Viren and his dark, awful eyes. “You will be put to death for the treatery and evil you have brought to this land, and I will see to it personally that what remains of you will be thrown to the far reaches of the world, so that you may never revive again!”

“Oh, what’s this?” Viren mocked, and Ezran’s very bones seemed to gain a chill as he shivered where he stood. “The young king can’t even talk for himself? He must have his royal nanny and royal guard dogs speak for him, hmm? What a pathetic display.”

With a motion of his hand, Viren threw Opeli and Corvus, as well as every other guard around him, against the back wall, then to the sides of the room, after which they collapsed. Only then did it seem that Ezran was able to look away from Viren, and tears formed in his eyes as he looked over to see Opeli and Corvus’s bodies remaining motionless.

“No!” cried Ezran, and he attempted to scramble over the side of the throne, but was stopped by an invisible wall of force, which boxed him onto the throne. He attempted to reach for Bait, his trusty glow toad pet, as comfort, but realised that Bait wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“Oh no, young king,” Viren tutted sickeningly, his condescending voice threatening to make Ezran want to hurl, “you’re not going anywhere. Don’t you want to die like your father? Don’t you want to die with  _ honour _ and  _ dignity _ , as the  _ great and powerful king _ ?”

Ezran looked down again at his brother, but Callum was turned away from him, staring back at Viren with venom in his eyes, and it was all Ezran could do not to scream. He knew that, at some point, someone had to come and help them out of this situation, be it the royal guard or even just Rayla come to pick Callum up for a date or something, and he just had to stall for time, whatever that meant.

So Ezran tried his best to calm down, and started to talk with Viren, in all his horrible evil light. “What are you doing here, Lord Viren? I thought you’d died, that’s what Callum told me.”

“Ah, but kids are quick to judge and lie, are they not?” Viren countered, and Ezran glared at him with false bravado. “Your brother may have  _ thought _ he killed me, but I’ve found a way to come back, a way that all humans should be able to do, so that we might come back stronger than ever, and immortal!”

“But the beauty of humanity comes in our mortality!” countered Ezran, and he was shocked that that came from his mouth. When had that thought come to his mind? Maybe, perhaps, when he’d been forced to try and grow up faster than his body could handle.

“Why bother with beauty,” said Viren, “when we could have more time! Isn’t that what we scramble to have the most of? To be the most rich in hours and days so that we may find an answer to something in this madness we call life? Is life and prosperity not the goal, especially for a king such as yourself, ruling over a land such as this? Because if it’s not, then you are not fit to be king, not here, not now, not ever.”

Viren’s words struck hard at Ezran’s heart, but he shook his head. He just had to stall, he just had to wait until someone, anyone, came.

“I agree, we should aspire to have prosperous lives,” said Ezran, “but prosperity and longevity are not intertwined. It may help, but in the end, it is the whim and support of the people as a whole, not the individual who thinks himself better, that actually brings forth prosperity, that brings forth a hope for humanity, it is the people as a whole who can make a change, no matter what generation, no matter the length of time that that change takes, no matter how many eras go by and people die of age and other various ailments. And that’s what we’re doing, making a change  _ for the better _ , without dark magic and the evil you bring, without taking innocent creature’s lives against their wills for the wild whims of people like you, especially humans who have been endocturned with your horrible plans!”

Viren scowled at Ezran, and the king’s blood went cold. “It is not upon a  _ whim _ that I take the magical essence of a creature, it is with purpose, meaning, I take what I need from the beings around me and they are used for something bigger than what they could have possibly imagined being a part of. From the fresh spit of a wasp to the very heart of a lava titan, I use what I need to make this kingdom - nay, this  _ world _ a better place for humans to live. I’ve sacrificed much for this kingdom, and I will continue to do so, so that people may live better lives!”

“But that’s not sustainable,” argued Ezran, “and it’s not safe, for anyone involved. It’s proven that dark magic is bad for  _ everyone _ , including the wielder! I mean look at Callum; he did it once, and he almost died! That’s proof that dark magic is dangerous, and the damage it does to everyone around it is proof that it needs to be stopped.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about, boy,” Viren countered, “for you have never been in a position where you needed to fight for anything yourself. All you’ve ever done is sit around, watch from the sidelines, look on as people die for you, as people fight for you and scramble to stay alive and fed, lifting nary a finger of support, waiting for everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. What do you think that silver platter is made from? Dark magic is the very foundation upon what these kingdoms were built upon, and they will crumble without it, so why not let it flourish, let our  _ people _ flourish, and bring forth a new and safer future for everyone? If you continue doing what you do, you will destroy this, what you call home, what you call humanity, and we will recede back into a time when humans had no power, and starved in the streets as the magic folk take everything from us and let us die. How is that fair? How is that just?”

“Humans can do magic, though!” cried Ezran, and to this, Viren raised his eyebrows a little. “Magic that isn't dark magic! Callum found a way to connect to the air primal, and I’m sure that if he’s able to teach others how he did it, anyone who wants to use magic and finds it their calling will be able to use the primal sources too, instead of the awful, life-destroying thing you call dark magic! It could be a turning point in history where we are able to perform primal magic and learn alongside the magical races, and become one with them! Besides, wasn’t it you who has always said that there’s no point in being human if we don’t change and evolve to match what is needed, as we’ve always done? Leaving dark magic behind and finding ourselves in the primal sources is exactly this change, all we need to do is start to implement it into our kingdoms!”

“You chatter and wish far too much for a king,” growled Viren, “you hope and pray and stare up at the stars wishing for a future you had in a dream, hoping beyond hope that you could make a difference, save everyone, stop the wars that are inevitably coming. But you’re too young, you’re too naïve, you haven’t experienced the world yet. You don’t understand what your people need, you don’t understand the problems and struggles they face, and you don’t understand many of them need to use dark magic, that it is a near infinite resource that they can use to sustain themselves, to help themselves, heal themselves, and carry on. It is a necessity, this world’s people, this world’s  _ humans _ need it, and I will fight with everything I have to keep it alive in our culture and civilization.”

“You’re too blind to see,” said Ezran sadly, and his shoulders drooped a little, to which Viren seemed to perk up at, “you refuse to change your ways when the true solution is right in front of you. I want to help you, I want to be able to save you from the horribleness you’ve enshrouded yourself in, but I can’t, all I can do is keep fighting against you and hope that one day you change your mind.”

“Then there is only one thing we can do, there’s only one thing  _ I _ can do, to bring an end to this,” said Viren with malicious glee, “there is only one thing that I can do to set history straight again and make humanity top of the food chain, and I have been waiting for this moment for so, so long.”

From behind Viren, Ezran could barely make out that a number of figures dressed in royal guard uniform were coming, running down the hallway towards the throne room as fast and as silent as possible, and hope fluttered in his chest. He’d done it! It’d stalled for long enough, and now help would be able to take Viren by surprise, let Callum escape, and help Corvus and Opeli so that they didn’t stay motionless forever.

Just as his hope began to rise, Viren cried out in horrible joy, and Claudia moved out from before her father. Fatigue seemed to set in on her as she sat down with Callum, attempting to keep him under her magical wraps and attempting to keep something secture in her hand, which had been balled into a fist. Then, Viren surged towards Ezran his staff raised just like how it had been that day on the battlefield after the fight for the storm spire and the Dragon Queen’s nest, and for a moment, Ezran felt something like clarity as his eyes widened.

Suddenly, he knew he wouldn’t make it past that day, that this attempt on his life would be his last. And for some reason, he was okay with that, because he knew that Viren was distracted enough that he wouldn’t hear the reinforcements that would come to save Callum, Opeli, and Corvus, and he knew that Claudia wouldn’t be able to do anything because she was too tired even if she put up a fight and, if she was unlucky, sentenced with assisting her dad in regicide. He knew, as well, that Callum would probably have to take up the throne, and he was happy about that, for he knew that Callum would probably be able to try his best, and if he couldn’t do it, then Ezran knew that Callum would at the very least be able to pick out a suitable regent until he was ready.

A sense of peace came over Ezran as the tip of Viren’s staff came centimetres from his chest, and he relaxed slightly, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to do anything until Viren’s blow came, his eyes resting fully on Viren’s own magically darkened eyes. Then finally, the tip of Viren’s staff pierced Ezran’s body, and instantly reality came crashing down on the young monarch as first adrenaline, then pain, flooded his body and blood began to flow out of his wound.

It took a second for his body to catch up, but as soon as it did, Ezran screamed as hard as his tiny lungs would allow, until he had to gasp for more air. But his lungs struggled to accept his attempts of inhalation, flaring with agony as he desperately struggled for life.

He heard more than he saw as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force air into his lungs, letting out involuntary noises every few seconds. The reinforcements who had come quickly overwhelmed Viren, and he heard the captain of the royal guard (who was Viren’s son but actively worked against the dark mage), Soren, somewhere in front of him, crying out that he had to do it, that there was no other way to do it. He could hear a scuffle happening with Claudia and the other royal guards as she tried to fight back, but she was quickly subdued, and he could hear someone gasp as though they’d just gotten their voice back. Ezran thought for a moment that Claudia may have not even been given a chance at a trial, if she’d gone down so quickly. He heard movement, reassurance given to Soren and perhaps some other people, he heard medical attention being given to Corvus and Opeli as they came to and struggled to figure out what happened. Then he heard the first person to look over at him and see the staff lodged straight through his chest.

Ezran figured it must have been his brother, who first noticed, but he couldn’t tell, as suddenly there was a scream, a cry of fear, and then the noise became too much for him to keep track of. All he knew was the pain coming from his very core, and the sickening wet feeling he got when he tried to press on where he hurt most, like a wounded animal attempting to save itself. He couldn’t tell what sounds were made by him and what were made by others anymore, and though he probably should have thought himself lucky that he hadn’t died instantly, that the staff hadn’t pierced his heart, all he could think about was the pure torturous agony he was in.

He felt someone pull on the staff, and while he didn’t think he reacted, he felt a fresh new wave of agony and heard a brand new scream pierce the horrible buzzing of other people’s noises. Whoever had touched the staff had clearly decided to let it be, but someone else seemed to have a better idea, and grabbed a hold of it with strength. Ezran writhed on the end of it, trying to make his pain go away, then suddenly, the staff was gone, and he tried to cover the places that swelled with torment the most, pushing through the awful wet feelings and burrowing into hot, moist things that he’d never thought he’d feel on himself with his cold, clammy hands.

Someone grabbed his hands, pinned him down like a butterfly on a cork board until his muscles couldn’t fight anymore, and someone else tried to keep him still as they worried and cried about some way to help him, but Ezran’s moment of peace just before the staff had struck him had started to come back as he began to slip away, away from his body, away from the throne room, away from the noise. There was nothing he could do, he knew, there was nothing anyone could do, all anyone could do right then and there was simply accept and move on, maybe give him a smile as he went away.

The idea of someone smiling at him made Ezran’s heart pound faster, though perhaps that was simply it trying to compensate for the blood loss, and Ezran found that he didn’t want to go until he saw someone smile at him. He forced his eyes to crack open, the light burning his retinas as tears and snot soaked his face, and he looked up at the first person he could see, his vision weak and fading.

_ Callum _ , he could see Callum, his brother’s face twisted in pain and anger and fear, but Ezran didn’t want that. Ezran wanted to see his brother’s smile one last time, so to try and coax one out of Callum, Ezran used the last of his strength to try and reach up to his brother, and smile at him instead. Callum stared down at him, down into his eyes, Callum’s own like deep dark pools of grief and anger, and Ezran watched every fleck of light that danced within them silently for a moment. He tried to say something, something he knew would make Callum laugh in another other situation, but his words were lost on his lips as a metallic taste flooded his tongue, clouding his mind and forcing him to spit up red. Callum seemed to notice that Ezran was reaching for him, as he grabbed the hand that Ezran had been trying to reach up at him with, and he squeezed like his life was on the line instead of Ezran’s. It made Ezran laugh, though it may have come out as something more akin to choking, but still Ezran tried to make Callum smile.

He squeezed back on Callum’s hand as an intense pressure pushed down on Ezran’s chest and made his tears flow all the more heartily as his pain seemed to double, and he continued to try and smile at his brother, to try and keep it from turning into a grimace, to try and keep from giving into the agonizing pain. He opened his lips again, aware of the blood that coated his mouth, and this time simply mouthed at Callum what he was going to say.

“Don’t cry for me, Callum,” Ezran mouthed, and Callum seemed to barely understand before he shook his head and stared at Ezran with all the more intensity, “just smile for me. I just want to see you happy.”

Callum’s tears seemed to flow even more as he pieced together what Ezran said, and he said something back to him, but Ezran couldn’t understand. The sounds of the world had mixed together into an intense, crushing fog, like a pillow had been forced over his ears and was gaining density. It didn’t seem like Callum understood that, though, as he kept saying things to Ezran, shouting at him, screaming with all his might about something Ezran couldn’t hear. Ezran simply tried to shake his head, managing to tilt it slightly from side to side, then mouth again at Callum.

“I can’t hear you,” Ezran tried to mouth, though he was interrupted by another wave of pain as blood came up his esophagus again, and he tried once more. “I can’t hear you, please Callum, just smile for me and promise me you’ll be happy.”

Callum seemed to get the message, but he once again shook his head vigorously, and yelled something Ezran couldn’t understand. A sadness swept into Ezran’s soul as he realised he wouldn’t be able to see Callum smile one last time, but he tried to push it aside in his attempts to calm Callum down, whatever he could do, until he couldn’t make out the world anymore at all, and everything seemed to ease away into nothingness.

-]O[-

With a gasp, Ezran sat straight up in bed, his eyes darting around his environment. After a second of startled fear, Ezran began to calm down as he recognized the look of his bedroom, dark in the glow of the half moon coming through the window. The royal red cloth that adorned nearly everything in the room seemed to warm up his quickly beating and frigid heart, frozen from having thought that he’d died, and he tried to remember what had just happened.

He’d had a nightmare, that was for sure, and a bad one at that. It was one that he’d probably have to tell someone about if he didn’t want to have it again, but he wasn’t entirely sure who he should tell, for as bits and pieces of it came back to his memory, he became increasingly sure that this dream shouldn’t just be told lightly. He’d probably like to tell someone really close to him, but at the same time the only one he could think that was really close to him and would want to hear about it was Callum, and, well…

It might be a bit traumatic even just telling Callum about it, both for him and his brother, so Ezran figured against it. He considered going back to sleep, but shivered at the idea of having that nightmare again, and decided that, if he wasn’t going back to sleep and he wasn’t going to tell anyone right then, he might as well try and be comforted in the waking world where he was most certainly not dying in pure agony within the throne room. With that thought in mind, he did the same thing he’d done ever since he was an even younger boy, when Callum had first been adopted, and called out for him.

“Callum…” Ezran called softly, not wanting to disturb anyone else, and he stared at the door across from him, where he knew his brother slept.

He wondered for a second if Rayla would in that room as well, for when she’d come back with them to Katolis and Ezran had taken up the throne again, she hadn’t asked for lodgings, and while he’d offerened, Rayla had turned down the spare castle bedrooms that Ezran had offered. Rayla had waved it off as not wanting to sleep alone in a strange human castle, and she and Callum had even moved a whole mattress from one of the guest rooms, but Ezran had thought it a bit strange. He hadn’t thought too hard about it, however, and he certainly didn’t press Rayla about it.

From behind the door he finally heard Callum shift somewhat, as though he was listening for his brother just in case he hadn’t actually heard Ezran call for him, and Ezran called out again to make sure his brother didn’t just go back to sleep.

“Callum, I had a nightmare,” Ezran called softly, and he heard from Callum’s side a little more urgency as Callum got up out of bed carefully, then quickly and quietly made his way to the door.

After a moment, their door opened up and Callum’s face peaked through, looking at Ezran from muscle memory after having done that same movement hundreds of times before. He smiled at Ezran.

“Hey Ez, are you doing okay?” Callum asked, his tone soft as he came into Ezran’s room fully and closed the door behind him.

Ezran shook his head, and Callum came to the side of his bed, his arms widened for Ezran to fall into a hug. Ezran did just that, and they shared a moment in the embrace before Callum piped up again.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Ezran sighed a little, shelving his nightmare for another time as he thought of something that Callum would both believe and that Ezran himself knew would probably rouse him from sleep.

“I had a nightmare about this massive crocodile that was coming for me because I’d stolen it’s watch that it had for some reason, but then the crocodile could do magic, so it did some crazy flying magic, and it caught up to me, and as punishment for stealing its watch it sentenced me to death, and I woke up just before it stabbed me through my-”

“Alright, alright,” Callum quietly said, his voice soothing, and Ezran realised he was shaking thinking about how similar the end of his real nightmare was to his made-up one. “No need to scare yourself again, right? I’m right here, and I’ll protect you from all the baddies that lurk in the shadows of your room, because none of them are real, so they’re real easy to stomp out. Get it?  _ Real _ easy?”

Ezran quietly groaned at Callum’s bad joke, but then chuckled a little bit and pulled out of their hug. Callum’s arms dropped to the edge of the bed as Ezran laid down again, and both of them sighed a little.

Ezran then remembered something suddenly, and looked over at Callum. “Also, I don’t know where Bait is, he’s usually with me at night. That was another part of my dream, though it wasn’t a big one, but now I’m just worried.”

“Hey, if he’s not back in the morning,” suggested Callum, “then we’ll scour the castle looking for him, and Opeli will just have to hold off your duties until he’s found, okay?”

“Okay,” nodded Ezran, even though he wasn’t completely happy with Callum’s suggestion. “But if he winds up some big fish’s dinner, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“He’ll be fine for tonight,” Callum said definitively, though Ezran didn’t fully buy it, “he knows better than to not come back to you. He’s like your wake up alarm, if he’s not back you’ll never wake up and we’ll have to find a prince or princess charming just to rouse you once more!”

Ezran blushed but smiled at the idea, and Callum gave a soft, content sigh.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay,” said Callum. “But just know that if there was an actual danger, you should call out for Rayla, because she’s just over there too,” he gestured for his room, and Ezran nodded, having already known that, “and she could probably actually fight off anyone, from other Moonshadow elves to big evil watch-owning crocodiles.”

Ezran giggled a little at the mental image of Rayla kicking the butt of a massive crocodile with a watch on its wrist, and Callum smiled. Callum  _ smiled _ . For some reason, Ezran felt much more happy and complete as Callum smiled at him, and before he knew it, he’d whispered out a question he’d had in his dream that he hadn’t been able to say then.

“Callum, if I die, would you still be able to be happy?”

Callum’s eyebrows flew to his hairline in shock, then he frowned gently at Ezran, and the latter sat up again, looking gloomily down at the floorboards. There was a silence between them as Callum thought about his next words, then he broke it with a question of his own.

“What brought that up?” he asked, and Ezran looked up at him, his eyes already feeling wet and watery.

“I just-” Ezran stopped himself before he began to cry, and Callum pulled him into another hug, in which this time Ezran wrapped his arms around Callum, too.

After a moment, in which Ezran tried to stifle his tears, he decided that he couldn’t just keep his nightmare locked away. It would keep coming back, Ezran would keep wondering exactly what it meant, and he’d never rest until he told someone. No matter how traumatic it would be for anyone he told it to, or how traumatic it would be for him retelling it, it had to come out. He supposed that, even if it hurt him a little, Callum was the best person to talk to about it.

Ezran pulled back out of the hug, then looked Callum in the eyes before looking away at his pillow. “I lied about my nightmare being about a crocodile with a watch. It was actually about Lord Viren.”

Callum frowned, but his eyes remained soft as he watched his younger brother. “It’s alright, Viren was a pretty scary dude. Is there anything else about it that scared you? And try not to lie this time, because with the truth I can actually try and put your mind at ease, okay?”

Ezran nodded, then took a deep breath. “In my nightmare, Lord Viren came into the throne room uninvited after having apparently had Claudia kidnap you, then he hurt a bunch of the people there, like Corvus and Opeli, and I tried to stall him so that he didn’t hurt anyone else, and we fought about the good of the kingdom, then as Soren and some others came to try and fight him away he lunged at me the way he did on that day after the big battle at the storm spire, and he- he stabbed me with his staff through the chest, and I sat there bleeding to death until him and Claudia were gone, and it was just the people in the throne room and you, and someone tried to help me but all I could focus on was the pain, but then I opened my eyes and I saw you, and all I wanted to do was make you smile because I just wanted you to be happy but you were too sad and it made me really sad and upset, and I want to know now, would you be able to be happy if I died?”

Tears had begun to roll down Ezran’s face as he spoke, and once he was finished, he wrapped his arms around Callum again, unable to hide his unhappiness. He buried his head into Callum’s night shirt and soaked it with his tears, while Callum, who seemed to be partially stunned, held him close and patted his back.

It took a couple seconds for Callum to really figure out what to say, but finally he inhaled heavily.

“Ez, you mean so, so much to me,” Callum started, and he paused as Ezran squeezed him tighter, then continued, “and I know for a fact that it would really break my heart if you were… well, if you were gone. Especially because you’re the king of Katolis now, and especially since we’re the last of our family, along with aunt Amaya, and super especially because you’re my only brother and you’re younger than me. I want to be able to protect you from all that can hurt you, and I know that I can’t but if something happened to you, I don’t know fully how I would react, but if I knew the person who brought you harm, I would probably try and… I don’t know, get back at them somehow? Look, this is a really grim and sad topic, and I don’t really want to think about it that much, but if it means something to you right now, if it’ll make you feel better and be able to go back to sleep, I guess… I guess I would try to be happy afterwards, if I were in that situation, simply because I knew you would probably be sad if I was sad, and I’d know that you’d always be watching over me, just like how I plan on always watching over you. How’s that?”

Ezran sniffled a little bit, then leaned back so that he could look up into Callum’s eyes. “You really mean that? You’d try and be happy for me?”

“Yeah,” Callum said with a small smile which warmed Ezran’s heart, “just for you, Ez, I’d try and be happy.”

Ezran leaned back in and put his chin on Callum’s shoulder, then sniffled again and said, “Thank you, Callum. You mean a whole lot to me, too. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from Viren’s grasp without dying.”

“Remember that it was just a dream,” Callum said gently as he pulled away, and Ezran nodded, his eyes already starting to close as sleepiness threatened to overtake him once more. “I don’t think anything like that will happen anytime soon, and if it does, we’ll be prepared, I promise. Now get some sleep, I’m sure you’ve got a super busy schedule tomorrow.”

Ezran nodded again as he pulled up the covers on his bed up to his neck, then listened as Callum walked back over to the door and opened it. Before his brother could slip through, however, Ezran stopped him again.

“Goodnight, Callum,” Ezran said softly, his eyes fully shut.

Callum seemed to pause, then there came the sound of him turning around, followed by his response. “Goodnight, Ezran.”

As the door shut again and the sounds of Callum climbing back into bed came from behind it, Ezran snuggled deeper into his bed, assured now and not afraid anymore of his night terror. Far, far away, within the lands of Xadia, in a dark, dingy cave, the object of Ezran’s night terrors stood up and watched in detached abstract horror as his little creepy bug friend began to hatch from its cocoon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! I wrote this instead of my multichaptered fic in another fandom because this show has caught my heart and I had a sudden and miraculous burst of inspiration, so I had to write this. It became... much sadder until I decided to make it a dream, like I had planned on maybe doing chapters where Callum tries to hunt down Viren or something, but it just made me sad, and I wanted things from Ezran's perspective since literally no one seems to do that, so yeah. I decided to just make this a one-shot, and one that I hope you all enjoyed! Again, thank you all for reading, and have a wonderful day!


End file.
